Launching the report, Cabinet Secretary for Health & Sport, Shona Robison, said: “The reforms I am announcing today will help more patients to get better access to treatments that can give them longer, better quality lives. The Scottish Government, the SMC and the NHS have worked hard to reform access to new medicines.”

Dr Montgomery said: “The key finding from the review was that access to end-of-life, orphan and ultra-orphan medicines has increased. This was confirmed by the feedback received from a wide range of stakeholders who engaged with the review. Stakeholders also expressed greater satisfaction with the new approach adopted by the SMC. The review goes on to highlight the challenge in maintaining the increased levels of access in the future, particularly at a time when an increasing number of exciting new treatments are expected to become available for a number of conditions.”

The report found that the new approached introduced by the SMC have increased access to new medicines used at the end of life and for very rare conditions.

The review found SMC acceptance rates had increased following recent reforms, with the combined assessment rates for orphan/cancer medicines increasing from 48% between November 2011 and October 2013, to 75% between May 2014 and March 2016.